To this day, I can still remember my first big grocery bill after we got married. It was about $ 200 and I cried on the way home. I didn’t get anything fancy, just the basics. We were poor students just married and the expenses of food were a necessary evil that I could not avoid.
Shopping for groceries was my responsibility in the marriage and I was determined to live within our limited budget. I plunged into the challenge and years later found myself teaching community classes on “coupons” (“yes,” I had to tell my sisters, “coupons is a word”).
I no longer spend hours searching, printing, cutting and organizing coupons, but there are some invaluable buying principles I learned from those studies that I will never change. My favorite is to buy more to save more.
The simple idea behind the strategy is to buy more of something when it’s on sale so you don’t have to pay full price later when you need it. Applying this principle will look different in everyone’s home. Take the time to consider the following questions in order to maximize your savings.
* How much space do you have to store food?
This may seem like an obvious question, but this has put me in jeopardy more than once when it comes to frozen foods. I’ve gotten a lot more organized (and creative!) With my freezer space out of necessity. Although this is obviously not the answer for everyone, we invested in a freezer as a result of some of the best sales I have seen in cheese and meat. I convinced my husband that after some upsells like that, we would pay for the freezer with the amount of money we saved.
* How much of this item will we use?
No matter how good the sale is, it is never a good deal if the food goes to waste. Make sure you don’t buy more than you can use. Consider the expiration date and your schedule and meal rotations. I always try to prepare meals where most of my ingredients are things that I already have in storage so nothing is wasted or forgotten, but that’s another principle.
* How good is the sale?
This is something that will improve your knowledge over time. The worst feeling is when you stock up on a favorite item because it’s on a great sale, only to find out next week that the same item sells for a significantly better price at a neighboring store. You will become familiar with the prices in your area and begin to know what a good price is for different items. Also, don’t be afraid to ask people! I have spoken to my butcher at my grocery store several times about prices. I don’t know of a grocery store where they pay their employees commissions on sales, so they will honestly tell you if you should expect a better sale or when you can expect a next discount. Be nice and friendly to employees, they have a wealth of knowledge!
* How often is it on sale?
This question is one of my favorites because it is a game changer. Sales are in rotation. Not only can you expect certain items to be discounted at certain times, you can plan your food storage around them! For example, my store has meat sales on a two-week rotation. This means that I only need to buy enough chicken to last my family for two weeks before I know it will be on sale again. It also gives me a reason not to have to buy chicken at full price between those bargain prices because I can just pull it out of my freezer.
Another sales rotation that is extremely useful to know and keep an eye on is seasonal sales. For example, barbecue sauce is generally marked at its lowest around July 4th, and nutrition and health bars are typically at their lowest in January for everyone’s New Years resolutions. These items often don’t expire for more than a year, so if you have the space, buy enough to last your family that long.
Once your original batteries hit a successful rotation, you will find that you are buying completely differently. It’s not uncommon for me to come home from the store with 25 boxes of cereal, 10 bags of cheese, and then just a handful of other staples like bread, milk, and bananas. I don’t need to buy all the ingredients on my list for that week’s meals because I had already stocked them when they were on sale. As a result, I can prepare the same tasty meals at a much lower price for my family. Buying more to save money is all about syncing your largest purchases with your sale prices, and ironically, you’ll soon discover that buying more can help you spend less.